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Accordion western musical instrument

Are there any Left handers who can play the Accordion western musical instrument?

Prashant Akerkar
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    Since it takes two hands to play the accordion, it hardly matters whether one is left or right handed. – Aaron Jun 16 '23 at 03:45
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    @Aaron is this the reason there aren't left handed guitars? – ojs Jun 16 '23 at 04:40
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    @ojs No idea. I thought there were left-handed guitars, though. But there's aren't left-handed pianos or snare drums. – Aaron Jun 16 '23 at 05:24
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    @Aaron but you use both hands to play the guitar, so it should hardly matter whether one is left or right handed and special left handed instrument shouldn't be necessary. Right? – ojs Jun 16 '23 at 06:19
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    @Aaron I think it was sarcasm. There absolutely are left handed guitars. But I think pianos are a better analogy. Some web searching suggests that left handed people who play accordion just play it the same way right handed people play it. Just like piano. – Todd Wilcox Jun 16 '23 at 06:29
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    @Aaron There are left handed pianos, if you remember my answer to your question: https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/107883/what-modern-innovations-have-been-are-being-made-for-the-piano/109737#109737 – Clockwork Jun 16 '23 at 07:12
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    @Aaron - whilst there may well not be any left hand snare drums, there are sure as heck drum kits set up for lefties. – Tim Jun 16 '23 at 08:14
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    Do you have any reason to think that left-handed people just don't play accordion ever? I mean, if you asked "are there left-handed people who play [any given kind of musical instrument]?", I'm pretty sure the answer would always be "yes". Or did you actually mean to ask something more specific about playing accordion while left-handed? If so, then don't be shy, ask the actual question. Hopefully there may even be someone able to answer. – Divizna Jun 16 '23 at 10:06
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    Pretty sure I asked a similar question a long time ago - about 'handed/non handed' instruments. – Tim Jun 16 '23 at 10:11
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    @ojs - it's the fingers that are more in question with reference to guitar playing rather than 'hands' - and I've always argued that actually, in a lot of playing, the r.h. fingers need to be doing more than the l.h. So, we may all have been playing in the least effective way! – Tim Jun 16 '23 at 10:56
  • Thanks. For example: Prince William a left hander will have a normal piano left hand side and button piano right hand side or vice versa in the Accordion western musical instrument. Will the Left handers find it difficult to learn and play the Accordion? – Prashant Akerkar Jun 16 '23 at 11:24
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    Prince William plays the accordion? Citation needed! – Brian THOMAS Jun 16 '23 at 11:39
  • Thanks Brian. Just as a example of a Left hander. Prince William. Example Applicable for all left handers. – Prashant Akerkar Jun 16 '23 at 13:03

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You might want to look up Rudolf Würthner. After he lost several fingers of the right hand in a harvesting machine accident, he converted to playing accordion upside down. He is one of the more famous composers for accordion, led the Hohner company orchestra until its dissolution, and wrote methods both for B system accordion (his own instrument) and C system accordion. His own Morino instrument bore the Hohner logo in a half-circle so that it looked reasonable both when played upside down and rightside up.

However, he is an oddity. I think I read of some other self-learnt person who played upside down because of accidentally starting the wrong way round and not relearning, but as a rule, lefthanders play accordions just like righthanders do.

One practical reason for the uniform use (like with violins) is practical: seating order in a group is quite shaked up if two persons play with facing bellows movement.

In contrast, a guitar does not require a lot of space beyond the instrument itself on either side. And of course, in a small combo, the McCartney/Lennon signature look (with McCartney playing lefty) can even be an eyecatcher.

  • Thanks. For my curiousity to begin with who is a beginner, between guitar and accordion, which could be easier to learn the musical instrument between the two? Or between three Guitar, Accordion & Violin? – Prashant Akerkar Jun 16 '23 at 11:15
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    Please realise that half the world hasn't woken yet, to even see the question, let alone answer it. – Tim Jun 16 '23 at 13:06
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    That bit about the guitar doesn't seem right. It's a pretty long neck. I think the difference is that it doesn't move in and out? – Brian Slesinsky Jun 18 '23 at 19:44